The present invention generally relates to identifying members of a collaborative network and more particularly to a method of identifying members in a peer-to-peer network without the use of a central server.
In a peer-to-peer network or system, users would like to collaborate using their computing devices in a public or private collaboration session without the use of a server. Collaboration may involve the transfer of files, sending messages, or other forms of data between two or more computing devices of the network. During collaboration, the computing devices share a physical network with other devices who the users may wish to selectively include or exclude from their sessions.
Typically, a network has a central designated server that can identify users and the current network addresses or device identifiers of their devices which are currently logged-in as well as the session identifiers which are used to distinguish specific collaboration sessions. A collaboration session may correspond to an active group of collaboration participants or a team of participants in a virtual room/physical location for collaboration. When the user logs in, the central server can provide the user's computing device a list of network addresses for the other devices who share the same session identifier and exclude those who are not in the desired session.
Without a central server, it is extremely difficult to maintain an accurate accounting of the participants in the collaborative session. The computing device of the user does not have access to a central list which can be used to identify participants. There is no central mechanism for the addition and removal of participants. Accordingly, the computing device of the user will not be able to quickly and easily contact all members of the collaborative session because they are not identifiable to the user.
The Jini architecture provides an infrastructure for defining, advertising and finding services on a network where services are defined by Java interfaces or classes. Advertisement is done using a lookup service, which is a place for services to advertise their presence on a network. Generally devices use Jini protocols to find lookup servers, then query found lookup servers using Jini to find services which may exist on other network devices: Accordingly, the lookup service may not exist on the same device as the services advertised, nor does the Jini itself provide information that can be used for collaboration.
Another type of location protocol is UPnP which is similar to the Jini protocol. UpnP uses multicast messaging to request the existence of services. Only those servers that can provide a requested service or that know of servers who can provide such a service respond. The individual collaborative services do not respond. Accordingly, in order to utilize the UpnP service, a server must be present on the network.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,896 entitled “Capability Addressable Network And Method Therefor” describes the connection protocol for members in a peer to-peer network. The '896 patent addresses the problems associated with trying to connect and authenticate other peers on a peer-to-peer network. However, the '896 patent does not disclose how to identify and locate other peers when collaboration between peers is necessary. Furthermore, the connection protocol described by the '896 patent is extremely bandwidth intensive such that it would not be suitable for the identification of collaborative devices on a peer-to-peer network.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,183 entitled “Method For Authorizing Couplings Between Devices In A Capability Addressable Network” discloses the methods and protocols for authorizing coupling between devices in a capability-addressable network. However, the '183 patent does not disclose how peers can be quickly and easily identified on the network. In fact, the '183 patent discloses how a device accesses network services.
The present invention addresses the above-mentioned deficiencies in identification of users in a peer-to-peer network by providing a method in which a user can identify the network addresses of other users without the use of a central server. Accordingly, the present invention allows collaboration between computing devices where the network address (such as an IP address) and devices used by a user are not known in advance and may change.